World Business: Catching Up with Synthetics

A Frenchman created rayon back in 1884, and European textile makers
began weaving fabrics out of nylon a year after Du Pont developed it in
1938. But the havoc of World War II and a certain resistance to
wash-and-wear and wrinkle-free clothes made Europe lag behind the
switch to synthetic fibers that swept the U.S. in the 1950s. Now Europe
is making up for lost time. Synthetic fibers have become a $2.6 billion
business in Western Europe v. $2.4 billion in the U.S. Close to two
dozen new chemical-based fiber plants are being built...